Warriors Emerge with Win over Skyforce

A hot and cold night left the Sioux Falls Skyforce reeling from the 104-84 defeat at the hands of Santa Cruz on Friday at the Sanford Pentagon.

The Warriors (8-5) were mostly hot, shooting 52 percent from the floor for the game. By contrast, Sioux Falls (5-5) struggled with their marksmanship by nailing only 34 percent of their tries.

Skyforce Coach Nevada Smith was extremely disappointed with the lack of offensive output to start both halves of the game.

“There is no good reason for us to score only a combined 28 points in the first and third quarters. Our effort and energy weren’t good enough a professional basketball game tonight.”

Looming over the bad vibe from the game just completed is that these two teams will duel again in Santa Cruz on Sunday. Guard Ike Nwamu knows a serious evaluation is in order.

“We’re going to look at our mistakes in this game and then carry that into the next matchup. We didn’t do a good job executing on both ends of the floor. It then turns into guys trying to make the home run play. It’s really tough to win that way especially against a good team.”

Leading the blue and yellow brigade was Georges Niang with 22 points and 8 rebounds followed by Cleanthony Early (19 points, 9 rebounds) and Damian Jones (17 points, 15 rebounds). Tony Mitchell was top man on the ‘Force with 18 points and 5 steals while Nwamu and Erik McCree each added 15 points.